Flowers on her Tomb
by Weskette
Summary: Zip visits Lara's grave and must say what he couldn't when she was alive. Oneshot. LaraxZip


**Flowers on her tomb**

Zip slipped into the Croft Tomb. In his hand he held a small bouquet of flowers. They were all from exotic places that Lara had at one time explored while Zip was doing the research and sending her information.

"Lara..." His voice was faint and cracked. He wondered why she had to go. She had died a hero's death. She had sacrificed her own life to save many others. She had been in the middle of fighting a large serpent with a master that ment to destroy all of the worlds larger cities.

_Lara glanced around the serpent in front of her. On it's head perched a man with glowing red eyes that resembled the beasts own. "What to do..." Lara thought to herself. She saw a small glint in the corner of her eye. "Aha!" _

_It was the weak base of the pillar that held up the ceiling of old, mossy rock. She watched as the serpent drew closer extremely slowly. She had made her decision._

_She threw her grapple so it wrapped around the pillar's weak base. She pulled with all of her might until she heard a satisfying crack. The serpent which was almost upon her, hissed angrily. _

_"No!" The man cried angrily._

_Lara smiled when she looked up. The whole ceiling was crashing down. A particularly large slab of the anceint rock was falling. It would hit her. "I guess this was my last adventure." She spoke into her communication piece. "Goodbye, Zip."_

_"Lara! No!" Zip cried into the head piece. But it was too late. All communications were lost. She had been crushed by the weight of the rock. _

A tear escaped from Zip's eye. He wiped it away quickly. He continued to walk down the dark path that led to the croft tomb. Stepping into the open area, he switched on the lights.

The area lit up quickly, small wall lamps illuminating the way. He found himself in front of her grave, her_ tomb_. He fell to his knees. His closest friend, Alister, had died, shot by the doppelganger. But losing Lara was too much to bare. He hadn't even told her...

That he loved her. Placing the flowers on top of her casket, he closed his eyes. He didn't see why she had to be the one repeatingly risking her own life to save the world. There were other people that could've done it! One that he didn't love, or even know! He sighed. He knew that there was nothing he could do. Lara was dead. And that was that.

He wanted to reject it with every fiber of his being. But he couldn't. He had seen her mangled body and cried over it. In front of every one that was there. He didn't care who had seen.

He remembered the moments before when he had planned to tell her his confession.

_"I'm bored." Lara stated simply. _

_"I should have results on a search in a second. Wanna play that "guess what I'm thinking" thing?" Zip offered. Things had gottan even quieter after the loss of Alister, and now they had only each other and Winston to talk to. _

_"Why not? You go first." She replied._

_"Ummm..." Zip pondered for a moment. "You're wishing you lived in Midevil times so you could meet King Arthur, and witness his retreival of Caliburn."_

_"Not quite, but close." Came the reply as Lara continued to watch Zip type on his computer._

_"You wish you were the one to pull the sword from the stone." Zip re-guessed._

_"You got it. Now you are think of what kind of place I'll get to explore next?" _

_"Nope." He smiled. She would never guess it._

_"Well..." She thought about it. "The next sticky note your going to put somewhere on your computers?"_

_"Not- Wait. I got a hit." Zip quickly pulled out a PDA and downloaded the information she needed. He stretched out his arm and held it out for her. As she took it their fingers brushed. He wondered if she got the same tingles he did when they touched._

_"Brazil? I've never heard of this tomb before but thanks." She started to head out the door but stopped and turned around. "You'll have to tell me what you were thinking once I get back!" She smiled._

But she never did get back. At least, not alive. She died on that very same mission.

Zip took a deep breath and grimaced. He hated the smell of the cript-like area. It would give him too many sour memories in the future. He would always detest the smell.

He took a quick breath closer to the flowers in his hand. Their spicy and exotict smell chased the musky-ness of the room away.

Zip broke the ribbon that held the flower's stems together. He then began to spread the flowers across the top of Lara's casket. Their fragrence covered it and permeated through the air.

He leaned forward and kissed her name which was inscribed on the plaque before the stone coffin. Under her name were three words that he knew she would like there.

_Lara Croft_

Avalon may only be a step away.  
I have reached it.  


He swallowed and stood again. He would visit here on every holiday, but he felt there were still words left unspoken. He realized what they were.

"I love you, Lara." He walked out of the dark area.


End file.
